How do I hook up my computer to my tv?

[Beanie McChimp]

Ok my video card is a geforce fx 5200 and has TV-out. Basically what im asking is what kind of cable do I need.

[Archeus]

should just be a TV cable, any electronics store should help you out (in Ireland try Petes Electronics).

You get crap resolution though. Better to get a TV card and watch TV on your PC instead :D

[g0rt]

most likely you need a S-Video cable to go from your computer to your TV

if your TV doesn't support S-Video then you need a S-Video to RCA converter as well as the S-Video cable

THEN you need a regular audio cable from your sound card to your tv

pain...in...the...ass

[Kimiko]

afaik your card should come with an svideo out cable - take that down to your local electronics store and ask them for the cable to go to your tv :p

[Hippieman]

Hookin it up to the TV is great if you want to be fraggin on a big screen. But be prepared to have some text that is nearly unreadable and possibly only be at one set resolution.

[fatwreck]

and dont expect good resolution, i thin k TVs support around 800x600 or maybe a step higher if you got a good one. my semi new(within a year) 52' looked like ass when i hooked up my comp to it. but duel monitors was nice since the TV was big enough to read AIM and MSN with

[kurai]

I use my TV from the PC an awful lot.

Not for desktop tasks or games things, but for films/tv/music.
(DVDs, SVCD/VCD/DiVX, MP3s etc.)

Made little sense to me to buy yet another amp/speakers combo, when there was already a great set hooked up to my TV/VCR/PS2/Stereo system.

You'll find, as has been mentioned, resolution isn't great for websurfing or reading e-mail or whatever application type stuff and that most PC games simply aren't designed for that res or aspect ratio. You can tweak settings to improve it, but it's never going to be ideal.

However - for broadcast/pre-recorded video stuff it's excellent.
Using S-Video out DVD quality is better than on many standalone players, and is certainly better than my PS2. It's only really beaten by players that have separate RGB feeds.


As far as cables go ...

The Nvidia card has a small circular 7 pin female S-Video port. (looks a like a PC PS/2 mouse/keyboard port).
Your TV will either have a similar port (female again), or a single RCA port (like a speaker plug) and/or a SCART socket..

If it's S-Video (7 or 4 pin - doesnt really matter - 3 of the pins aren't used in S-Video out anyway) just get a male to male 4 pin S-Video cable.

If it's an RCA single port connector you need an S-Video to Composite (i.e. 7 pin round socket to single round RCA conector).
The good news is that this adapter comes with most Nvidia based cards. Then the only cable you need is from the adapted RCA to the TV's RCA style input.

Or - the third way - S-Video to SCART. SCART plug adapters with inputs for 4 pin S-Video and audio cables are common.

Which is best depends on your TV's inputs, really.

Oh - and the sound cables ... ;-)
(Usually 3.5mm normal headphone jack from sound card to 2x RCA [left and right] on TV/amp/SCART adapter)



N.B. The difference between S-Video (multi-pin) and Composite (single RCA plug) is noticeable - all S-Video does is send the brightness (luminance) and colour (chrominance) data for each pixel on separate conducter strands, so the two signals don't interfere with each other.
Composite sends all the signalling down one conducter, and the resulting image looks fuzzier/muddier.

[Beanie McChimp]

Well I would like to hook it up ro a 28" widescreen TV it has some sort of thing at the side for the prongs on a ps2(the ones that go into the scart thing the adaptor i think) or possible connect it to my bedroom tv ( quite old scart only)

Excuse my noobness whats s-video is it the widescreen version of scart the panel on the side of the tv?

[kurai]

Err ... sorry - couldn't make a lot of sense of that.

A bit of Googling threw up ...

Pic of an S-Video port
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G4/PowerBook_G419Dec00/images/mcy10.gif

Pic of an RCA/Composite port
http://www.computerfrontports.com/images/cpx106_2.gif

Pic of an S-Video/Composit to SCART adapter.
http://www.vandenhul.com/other/scart_s-vhsL.jpg

Looking at the SCART adapter ... from left to right the inputs are ...

Right audio, left audio, S-Video, RCA composite.
(using this adapter, for example - which is approximately the same as the one that comes with a Sony PS2 - you only need to use either the S-Video OR the RCA Composite - not both)

Your TV may already have direct sockets for these inputs without the need for an adapter.

Does that help any ?


P.S. Not sure what you are getting at with the "widescreen" bit - these are all just connector cables - they don't do anything to the shape of the picture.